In the past few years people have heard the term “rare earth minerals” or “critical minerals” as they relate to the manufacture of component goods that are vitally important in the lives of everyone. However, the term “rare” is somewhat of a misnomer. The minerals themselves are not rare; indeed, they have been around for hundreds of millions of years in abundant supply. It is the processing of those minerals into stable second stage commodities that has become rare.
As a result of western environmental rules and regulations, U.S, EU and developed nations have outsourced critical mineral processing (the dirty stuff) to China and Asia. We then import the finished commodity after processing. This becomes a problem when you realize the processor can weaponize western dependency, as we have recently seen with China controlling the export of processed minerals needed for manufacturing.
President Trump has made a strategic decision to bring back the manufacturing of critical minerals to the United States and has made a policy decision to create a critical mineral reserve. Just last Monday President Trump announced a $12 billion strategic mineral reserve to combat China’s domination of critical mineral supply chains, a major step toward tackling China’s advantage in a crucial sector of the U.S. economy. The initiative is called “Project Vault.”
“For years, American businesses have risked running out of critical minerals during market disruptions,” President Trump said. “Just as we have long had a strategic petroleum reserve and a stockpile of critical minerals for national defense, we are now creating this reserve for American industry,” Trump said during the Oval Office announcement.
Today in Washington DC, Vice-President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio led a critical minerals discussion at the State Dept., where they are organizing an effort to get all nations to invest and create their own critical minerals strategic reserves. WATCH:
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Silver and Gold in vault first.
Correct.
These are exactly the example of “Rare Earth” minerals because they both require processing tons and tons of earth and ore to yield ounces of each. Both are usually found in the presence of copper, which may yield pounds and then silver and gold in about a 10:1 ratio.
But these various “transition minerals” (in the part of the periodic table along the bottom) have rare and strange electronic and nuclear capabilities, and are rarer yet than even gold.
And we are seeing very, very minute amounts of them used in electronics, in all our TVs, Computers and alas, Cell Phones, so that the communications that our whole economy depends on are affected. So these minerals in the end make gold look cheap.
A.L. Brown, PE (Chemical Engineer)
Well stated, Mr. Brown!
Isn’t “Rare Earth” minerals naturally radioactive. So processing them creates rad waste.
According to USGS, minerals containing rare earth elements are bastnasite, monazite, and loparite and the lateritic ion-adsorption clays. From some sites:
“Bastnasite is a fluorocarbonate mineral with the chemical formula (Ce,La,Nd)(CO3)F. It contains approximately 65-75% rare earth oxides (REO) by weight, making it one of the richest REE-bearing minerals.
This mineral is considered the least problematic source of REOs as it contains minimal amounts of radioactive thorium, reducing environmental and regulatory complications associated with extraction.”
This is the mineral being processed from the Mountain Pass mine in CA.
“Monazite is a phosphate mineral with the chemical formula (Ce,La,Nd,Th)PO₄. It typically contains 55-60% REO by weight, making it another rich source of rare earth elements. Like bastnasite, monazite is primarily enriched in light rare earth elements (LREEs), but with a slightly different distribution pattern.
A distinguishing characteristic of monazite is its significant thorium content, which can range from 5-12% ThO₂. This radioactive component presents additional processing challenges and environmental considerations.”
“Ion-adsorption clays, also known as weathered crust elution-deposited rare earth ores, are a unique source of rare earth elements. Unlike mineral deposits, these clays contain REEs adsorbed onto clay minerals in the form of hydrated ions or hydroxyl hydrated ions. They typically contain only 0.05-0.2% REO by weight—much lower than mineral sources—but are highly enriched in valuable heavy rare earth elements (HREEs).
The clay minerals in these deposits are mainly composed of kaolinite, halloysite, illite, and montmorillonite. The negatively charged structure of these clay minerals allows them to adsorb positively charged rare earth ions.”
“Xenotime is a yttrium phosphate mineral with the chemical formula YPO₄, though it typically contains significant amounts of other heavy rare earth elements substituting for yttrium. It contains approximately 54-65% REO by weight, with a composition heavily skewed toward heavy rare earth elements—making it particularly valuable despite its relative scarcity.
Xenotime often contains small amounts of uranium and thorium, though typically in lower concentrations than monazite.”
ALL major silver players want to know who this is published by.
Watch a few of his videos, you will understand EVERYTHING is rigged!
I have been trying to figure it out since December.
Pretty sure it is multiple robots that scour the internet for other experts. Then use AI to create a story.
I found a couple that are highly accurate. I think they just steal each others content, since all but one have been shut down (theboringcurrency).
I can’t speak to this specific site you posted. However I tried fact checking this “government silver reporting law” going into effect on Feb 15. I could not find anything official.
What I have noticed is some of the AI sites will take facts (like critical minerals), then twist them to include things like silver & gold. Many of these youtube AI sites then sensationalize the story and visuals (like the above).
Proceed with caution and verify.
The Great Microchip Panic 2024 is what got this all going. Foreign dependencies almost collapsed the US auto market. That was a wake up call.
Also government regulation and all the electronic crap modern automobiles have. No one is buying new cars due to the electronic nonsense in cars. Plus starting in 2026 cars have to have ‘kill switches’ in them. An example of government control that does great harm to an industry. Republicans voted no on a bill that would have eliminated the kill switch earlier this year. Politicians screwing the consumer whenever they have the chance. The excuse they used was to make repossession easier and car theft more difficult instead of admitting they want government control over new cars.
“Dear car user. We’re sorry to hear about that social media post critical of the regime. Your car is now bricked. Please proceed to the DMV to atone for your sins…”
That reminds me of a South Park episode where Butters decides he’s sinned, and somehow figures the DMV is the place to confess said sin – and creates a new religion in the process. And now that joke is a conceivable reality… Thank God I know how to keep old cars going, although another ten years of Obidala and they’d ban cars without kill switches from public roads (of course, because “‘smart’ cars prevent accidents” or something of the sort). And covid taught us that half the country will voluntarily lock themselves inside and report their neighbors for going outside, so “America won’t stand for that” isn’t something I can say with any confidence.
Seems like that would infringe in our rights enumerated in the 4th Amendment…but of course they are already infringing on those rights in numerous ways:
Amendment IV
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
U.S. biggest weakness is how easy it is to legally bribe U.S. Presidents and Congress.
Easy to fix, hard to do.
Essentially all our problems.
It seems our deficit is all the stolen money.
Unless/until punishment is swift and equal to the deed nothing will change.
The world’s preeminent religion has become the Love of Money. How you going to fix that?
Got me.
Just because I recognise a plane crash doesn’t mean I’m a pilot.
I see many things I’m sure would help but so what.
In 2026, the United States of America, founded in 1776, will celebrate its 250th anniversary. We’re rapidly nearing the 250th anniversary of the fall of most previous civilizations.
https://thenationaldesk.com/news/politics/the-average-empire-survives-for-250-years-is-america-at-deaths-door
How to fix it?
Make law or constitutional amendment that donations to a political campaign is tied to a valid, verified, tax filing social security number with limit 5% of whatever is the average U.S. annual wage. An active U.S. corporate tax ID can donate too but it is also tied to same limit requirement based on average U.S. wage.
Almost everybody in the country can donate the maximum should they choose and favoritism based on money would be impossible. If pols want more donations, they have to create policy that raises average U.S. annual wage.
All other forms of “donations” in support of a politician are illegal and lobbying is illegal.
Like I said, easy to fix, difficult to do.
Like I said, easy to fix, difficult to do.
It won’t be fixed and the consequences are monstrous because the monsters are in charge.
Donations to federal political campaigns are already regulated by the FEC. But since Buckley v Valeo the supremes have held that a limit on the total dollar spending by a political campaign or independent expenditures is a violation of the First Amendment (typically characterized as “money=speech”). The Citizens United v FEC case held that for purposes of the First Amendment, corporations are legal “persons”.
Which is why today “PACs” and “Super-PACs” tend to dominate (like Trump’s “MAGA Inc” and “Save America” PACs.)
China had to break a lot eggs to make their 5,000 year old empire.
<China had to break a lot eggs to make their 5,000 year old empire.>
They’ve been walking on eggshells ever since 🙂
Is that supposed to be a yoke, asked the Swede?
<Is that supposed to be a yoke…>
I wasn’t talking about oxen…
The yolk’s on you 🙂
I love sitting here in the treehouse
I think “China” has had a number of iterations over the years that make it dis-continuous as an empire. Even in more modern times the progression from Song/Yuan/Ming/Qing saw battles between Southern Han people and northerners (Mongols, Manchu, etc).
The Golden Rule would do a bunch towards fixing it. I’d venture to bet that 60% of boomers knew it by the time they were 14 and I suspect that with each following generation the rate was reduced by a minimum of 7%
So what’s left?
And this is why they killed the gold and silver prices 4 days before this meeting with their paper manipulation schemes.
Anyone thinking the stock martket isn’t rigged probably think the vote is honest.
The paper gold and silver are pure manipulation. The metal however is the real deal.
Nope, the people with the power are the real deal.
I used to think precious metals had no counterparty risk. I was proven wrong when silver went down 30% in ONE DAY.
What happens next when they won’t even allow you to sell it because the premiums will be too high and the profit gets eaten up?
Can you say black market? The value of metals is intrinsic,
if you have it it has value to others.
The fiat currency will be the yuan soon unless our President
really is a time traveling genius. (GOD willing) China has been
stock piling metals for 20+ years. When they announce they are backing
their currency with gold it will be curtains for the US fiat economy.
All that said, there is nothing of value someone has not already
figured out how to rig.
Everything is rigged except how each individual responds. We alone decide
what has value to us. Look to CHRIST and live your best life.
Did you know our government under odumbo codified into law a protection
for experimentation on any human without permission from or notification
to the subject/victims. Can you see covid and its aftermath in a different light
knowing that little fact? Or the on going spraying of chemicals everywhere.
Do you really think a mass psychosis of specific subsets of humans is by chance?
Why did we have a mass shooting in Vegas? And why the missile in Memphis?
Why is government allowing illegals without any charges against the perps?
And on and on. Politics is a fools errand.
I think both sides want to bring down the US fiat that is used to bribe people to do all the illegal stuff. It’s just the timing of when it collapses. The cabal probably wants to get ahead of the 2020 election fraud being exposed to the masses. Trump, sometime after the people see the election fraud evidence.
That’s why Trump is building a dual economy now so that it will be less painful…
Friday’s manipulation was wildly illegal and yet, nothing will be done. Soooo many laws being broken in the brokerage and metals markets and? Crickets.
Yes, the SEC exists to protect Wall Street manipulation not stop it. There are outrageously FAKE NEWS articles every day on Bloomberg, CNBC and WSJ on Apple Computer, Amazon, Google and Nvidia that are written to simply manipulate the stock price. I remember one two years ago a few weeks after Christmas where Bloomberg cited a “report” that Apple IPhone sales plunged 35% in the weeks after Christmas sending the stock down 10%. When Apple reported earnings a few weeks later we learned that IPhone sales were up 9%. There was no follow-up by the SEC or the DOJ on what was Bloomberg doing a big favor for a Wall Street guy like Ken Griffin or Larry Fink! This crap happens every day unchecked by the SEC.
The EU still isn’t even meeting its 2% NATO obligations.
Can’t POTUS declare a National Emergency on rare earth production, and speed the process along, possibly on Federal lands?
Also, allocate incentives for states / counties for expedited construction, with funds paid out as construction progresses?!
Need to do something about the lawfare operations or anything done to expedite the build out of domestic production will be delayed for years until which time another globalist stooge can occupy the Oval Office and simply undo it.
Getting Congress to pass legislation to the same ends would have more permanent results, but you would have to figure out how to strong arm them into doing it as they have no real interest in doing things that benefit most of us.
Like California.
– we fund Billions for reservoirs, which Liberals sidetrack and block
– we now have “Superfires”, which skyrocket insurance rates, but we don’t conduct forest management like our hair is on fire. Logging/ thinning / controlled burns would provide jobs, lumber, and reduce fires, potentially lowering insurance rates.
One would call those two examples of a much larger pattern, enemy action.
Congress is still stumbling around with the Save Act which would require photo ID for voting. That should have already been passed and written into law last year. Why would the eunuchs in Congress do something meaningful with rare earth minerals when they’re dillydicking around with one of the only thing that matters to ensure secure voting?
FIFY.
That should have already been passed and written into law
lastyearsdecades ago.Passing the SAVE Act is not in the interests of the majority of Congress.
How many of them owe their seats to ballot fraud? 1/3? 1/2? And that doesn’t even cover all the shenanigans at the primaries to keep outsiders off the ballots.
That is why most of them are in office.
Dims and UniParty don’t want it.
Among other things, Norway (for instance) has titanium, graphite, & aluminum.
Do we need to be paid in cash for some NATO states, if we need minerals quickly?
Once the minerals are gone what do we do?
DoW has funded Mountain Pass Mine in CA to begin ore processing for heavy rare earth elements (HREE).
Thank you, Sundance.
“The minerals themselves are not rare; indeed, they have been around for hundreds of millions of years in abundant supply. It is the processing of those minerals into stable second stage commodities that has become rare.”
We do not have cobalt or titanium, as least in sufficient quantities for our industrialized economy. During the “cold war”, the CIA* used numerous shell companies to obtain the amount of Titanium necessary (from the former U.S.S.R.) to manufacture the legendary SR-71 Blackbird reconnaissance spy plane.
(*) – Probably one of the only virtuous things that agency ever did.
We’ve got materials in Alaska and and Southern California.
The Salton Sea region in SoCal holds one of the world’s largest lithium-rich brine resources, with estimates suggesting enough capacity to support over 375 million EV batteries!
EV batteries an example of government regulation driving demand.
Lot of cobalt in Cuba, Canada, Brazil.
The democrats will vow to stop this move in 3….2….1…..
Queue up the a future democrat president saying, “you didn’t build that” ala Obama about roads and infrastructure.
Greenland, as an unincorporated territory of the United States, not only possesses significant deposits of rare earth elements but would be an excellent location for us to process them.
Tough weather conditions.
Almost impossible weather and virtually all is INDIGENOUS LAND by First Nation peoples who won’t let you fill a pothole much less mine for rare-earth elements!
So was the United States once, look how that worked out.
I can’t disagree with the President. In order for America to be as safe as possible (which is debatable), we need to be self-sufficient and independent. Remember when something as simple as a child’s antibiotic couldn’t be found in any pharmacy? Or when all the COVID supplies were being imported from China and you couldn’t buy a mask anywhere? And just about everything we buy now is absolute crap (pardon my French) and is made in China? It all ends up in a landfill, which people don’t realize that we created our own environmental disaster by importing all this garbage.
All the “Environmentalists” will probably scream, but they are hypocrites. All we did was export the “environmental hazards” to other people, usually too poor to have a voice or a choice. The hazards weren’t eliminated. Americans are complicit, without even acknowledging it. There’s not a lot of moral high ground left. Better to own it than pass it off to someone else. We can work smarter and better and safer.
Minor change. Americans are complicit through the egregious actions of it’s politicians and a multitude of unelected bureaucrats! Only one President has come along in our lifetime that has the business acumen, savvy and know how to right the ship. Amen 🙏🏽
Correct on every statement, WorkforHim!
Baby formula.
I wonder how many folks in Congress traded off this announcement? The shares of public companies that mine for “rare earth” minerals yesterday were all up around 15 percent. I guess we’ll find out in about 12 months when nobody remembers yesterday’s announcements.
Somewhere in the 95% range.
And how ’bout we make our own medicines and pharmaceuticals while we’re at it?
Hello?
And everything else!!!
90% of the “stuff” in Sprawl-Mart, Marshall’s, Target, Kohl’s, or Ollie’s, Home Depot, Menard’s etc. is “Made in China,” or perhaps “Pakistan,” “Bangladesh,” “India,” “Malaysia,” and on and on!
60 years of de-industrialization, I know, cannot be reversed in one year!
But we need it reversed at least by the end of this decade!
Top speed!
I thought the former Eastman Kodak campus was to be used for that purpose.
Rochester, NY.
IV solution.
None of this matters. Election integrity matters. Mid-terms matter. 2028 matters. All this economic whatever is going to grind to all halt and then disappear. Everything the President has done will be reversed, suspended, negated or overturned. Fix the gd elections.
WHAT HAPPENED TO THE PLANS FOR A SPECIAL NEW CENSUS – without illegal immigrants counted?
Did Susie Wiles spike that?
That might get us a dozen or more House seats.
It takes a year of prep for a census. Not going to happen.
How Britain Controlled the World’s Silver Without Owning It / Economic Warfare
Thankfully, Trump is trying to crush the British Control of systems!
All this external economic positioning is nice but I don’t think it’s going to win any elections in 2026 and 2028. Frankly, the average soccer mom couldn’t care less about rare-earth elements and who has them. Momentum seems to be with the Democrats and ANTIFA.
On the other, it’s very important to the tech bros at Apple, Amazon, Google, Tesla and Nvidia so it may help us get $$$ from big tech for campaign commercials.
Sundance, lotsa’ Norton Antivirus spam on this site.
RF:
Probably good to send an email to Sundance or Ad rem …
[email protected]
This issue has come up from time to time.
The ads are not controlled by the admins here at the Treehouse, but by your ISP.
It is not however without remedy and can be mitigated by using a different browser like Brave or by adding an ad blocking add-on like uBlock origin to Firefox or other.
I think we need to keep a sharp eye out on things like dematiaceous earth – there is a place up in Lompoc, that has been mining their supply of the stuff over the decades – your pool man might keep some on hand – used in manufacturing for fine polishing –
but I can totally see the CCP-PRC someday getting access to the entire thing just so no one else can have any and thus get hung up in the process –
I can totally see the CCP-PRC finagling to get PM Starmer to let them shave off the White Cliffs of Dover – giant tankers with cranes ladling it all down to the holds of massive ships – there was a poem about the “White Cliffs of Dover” and they made an entire movie of it with Irene Dunne – no matter! White Cliffs what . . . Generation X, Y and Z are not into that.
Speaking of the names for the Generations, I would like to propose that such monikers as “Generation X” are pretty creepy, actually – how did they get all the way down the alphabet from the Baby-Boomers? X, Y and Z . . then what? Is that what we have been hearing about, eliminating vast numbers of people as proclaimed on the Georgia Guidestones? Who decided?
My daughter read a book called “Cobalt Red” about the conditions that such rare earth minerals were mined.
These rare earth minerals are what is needed to sustain CONTROL over our populations… “smart” phones, GPS tracking, remote start cars, “smart” thermostats, and surveillance.
Who rules the world? I give you Palantir.
Let the rare earths STAY IN THE GROUND.
Great news. Now start processing and making computer memory chips (ram) since that damn craps so expensive at the moment because of Ai.
The problem is that if the Democrats get back in power they will sell all our reserves as Biden did with our Strategic Petroleum Reserve. I wonder who got the money.
The green new scan is resulting in wasting silver in solar panels. Using way more silver in solar panels than being advertised.
I’m sure that the deep state does not want silver available for some of the new energy technology that will be developed in the near future. Texas is finding out how solar and wind preform in ice and snow storms…
The US used to have a strategic helium reserve. That began in 1925 back when helium was considered to be of critical importance to float blimps. Biden sold it off in 2024.
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/us-just-sold-helium-stockpile-s-medical-world-worried-rcna134785
I am on the front lines of this effort. Ramping this up isn’t easy but we are getting it done
Leaders of responsible private businesses establish and track milestone metrics to measure the effectiveness of a project or initiative. The activity is terminated if metrics are not achieved. Sadly, this basic project management practice gets overlooked for public projects.
I expect this one will fall into the same category. We’ll get nice speeches and photo ops, perhaps even some agreements but little actual progress on the REM front.
How it started.
Where it’s going.
https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/chinas-rare-earth-monopoly-and-why-markets-will-break-it
The fact that this situation was allowed to develop should remove any doubt that congress and previous administrations have been working against our own interests, for the sake of others and their own. No powerful country in its right mind would outsource virtually all production of such key elements – even to a neutral country. To do so to a communist regime would have triggered a revolt in the past. Yet unfortunately, the sheeple don’t want to consider how their votes for the likes of Obama, or the compromised and impotent congress, have contributed to a situation that’s handed a great deal of control out of the hands of themselves and even our own government. Instead, it’s “I’ve got my shiny new iphone, I’m planning my Super Bowl party and distracting myself with the latest Netflix series; I don’t like to think about what you’re saying, so I won’t.”